Hold the Camera Steady

Many "out of focus" beginner pictures are really camera shake, and fixing it costs nothing. Use both hands, tuck your elbows against your body, plant your feet and press the shutter gently at the end of a slow breath out. With a viewfinder, bracing the camera against your face adds a third point of contact; with a phone, a wall, railing or doorframe does the same job. Exercise: indoors in the evening, photograph the same bookshelf ten times one-handed at arm's length, then ten times braced. Zoom in on all twenty at home and count the sharp ones.